The environment is, “the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates,” that is one of the most popular definitions of environment. This clearly indicates that an organism can hardly live without the proper environment. The environment nurtures and protects the organisms with more care than the mother which looks after her newborn babies. The environment like our twenty-four-seven mother does everything, that no one else in this world can do for us. Man is the crown of the creation, and thus, has the chief responsibility to preserve and protect the environment and defend his title.
Man can hardly hope to live a quality life in absence of a pure environment. The quality of the environment is there to decide the future of life on this planet. Being the crown of the creation here it is our chief responsibility to maintain the quality of the environment so that life in its vast variety shall continue to thrive on the surface of this planet. Our lifestyle must be in accordance with the limits the environment has set for us. When will we act responsibly and carefully to protect and preserve our environment that lifestyle would be the lifestyle for environment? That lifestyle is the need of the hour if we want to make this planet a better place to live for us. Narender Modi; the prime minister of our country, is credited for coining the term ” Life Style for Environment”( LiFE ) at COP26 in Glasgow on November 1st, 2021. Therefore, it is largely seen as an India-led global mass movement to nudge individual and community action to preserve the environment. This lifestyle demands careful, mindful and deliberate utilisation of the resources which are gifted to us by the benevolence of nature. Life’s approach wants to replace the present “use and throw” thinking with an environmentally conscious lifestyle. The main important feature of this approach is that its chief focus is on the behaviour of the individuals. It is believed that only responsible behaviour of individuals shall lead to a better environment which would be free from every kind of pollution. We can not leave the responsibility of protecting and preserving our environment to future generations. We have to shoulder this responsibility ourselves by updating our behaviour in tune with our environment. We have to take environmental issues seriously and apply ourselves to play our potent roles wherever we can help.
Recently Sonum Wangchuk, the engineer from Ladakh who inspired the character of Pukhsukh Wangdu in the Three Idiots movie, had to launch a climate fast or “Anshan” to force the authorities to take more steps to preserve and protect the environment in the so-called Cold desert of India. Mr Wangchuk is demonstrating the typical lifestyle to awaken the authorities to think more about the depleting natural resources in his area.
Many environmental experts are warning us about the deteriorating environmental conditions of our Kashmir valley particularly. The administration has to take these warnings seriously and act in time. We can not afford to leave pollution unchecked till it will destroy everything around us. The government needs to wake up and act but we as responsible citizens can not leave everything for the administration to handle. We have to arise individually and collectively to save ourselves before the catastrophe may devastate us beyond any possibility of redemption.
We all have to behave more responsibly to preserve the blessings of our local climates. Our sheer material and growth mindset will turn us into environment plunderers. We all have to learn to discover such a lifestyle which is not devoid of environmental consciousness while concerned only about growth and development. Our lifestyle for our environment must be more responsible and responsive according to the needs and demands it puts forth time and again. Environmental pollution and climate change are the monstrous threats the whole world is facing. The whole world seems on the brink of extinction due to these deadly threats. We have already seen the ill effects of climate change here and there in the world. They are but, we must consider, only the trailer yet. We have to take our better lifestyle, in line with our better environment, seriously if our aim is to sustain life on this planet.
The author can be mailed at bukhari.hilalahmad5@gmail.com
